Reading Watching Listening

Good Girls Revolt. Fantastic writing. Kickass costumes. This show will make you want to stand up for something. And that is just about the most important thing these days.

Listening…

The The Is Us soundtrack. It’s so good. So. Good. For a show that makes me cry every single episode, the soundtrack makes me oddly happy. Plus, I’ve been waiting years for a new song from Mandy Moore, and she kills it on her cover of “Willin'”

Wine. All the Time. by Marissa A. Ross. The book has blurbs from both Mindy Kaling and Leandra Medine, so OBVIOUSLY I was going to get it. And it’s great. I’m now swirling and smelling and sipping and taking tasting notes. I’ve learned A LOT. Plus Ross is hilarious and I kind of want to be her best friend.

Watching…

Fleabag. WHY DIDN’T I WATCH THIS SOONER!? Phoebe Waller-Bridge is brilliant. It’s dark. It’s twisted. It made me sob. Really sob. The pacing is so spot on. The comedic rhythm is just off kilter in a way that works so well. Breaking the fourth wall has never worked so well. I’m already excited about season two.

Listening…

Vanessa Carlton. Because it felt really right the other night and still feels pretty right.

Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick. I would like to be best friends with Kendrick, please and thank you. This book is hilarious and smart.

Watching…

Company. I’m am fully on board basically any time I can watch a filmed version of a stage musical. It’s as close as I get to Broadway. The cast in this production is phenomenal (though my deep love for Raúl Esparza may make me a touch biased…).

Theory. Endless amounts of theory. But also this: Stephanie Bolster’s “Long Exposure“. I’m writing about it for the dissertation, which is why I am re-reading it now as I’m (hopelessly, inchingly, painfully) attempting to finish the proposal. But it’s good. It’s one of the texts in my dissertation that I’m almost scared to write about because I so don’t want to destroy it.

Watching…

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life. Obviously.

Listening…

Hamilton Mixtape. Hamilton. Mixtape. All day every day. Especially Sia’s version of “Satisfied” because DAMN it is good.

How To Ruin Everything by George Watsky. I 100% purchased this book for two reasons: it has an amazing title and there is a review from Lin-Manuel Miranda on the front cover. Turns out these were solid reasons. I’m reading this probably as slowly as a human being can read any book, only making it through a handful of pages in bed every few nights, but I’m seriously enjoying it.

Watching…

Conviction. I have a handful of shows that I watch via network apps and this is one of them. The storylines are engaging, but what I am most enamoured with is Hayes Morrison, the lead character. She’s an anti-heroine of the first degree. And I love her. Hayley Atwell is killing it in this role. Oh, plus her wardrobe is a dream.

Listening…

Hiraeth, the new album from 100 Mile House. I’ve been a fan of 100 Mile House for many moons now, so I was tremendously excited to hear they were releasing something new. Stream it here right now: http://exclaim.ca/music/article/100_mile_house-hiraeth_album_stream?&utm_source=twitteren&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=entwitter

Still nothing. Still drowning in work. At one point in my life, when I was young and naïve, I thought that going to graduate school would mean I got to read things I enjoyed. Not true. If anyone ever tries to convince you of this, they are lying.

Watching…

Gilmore Girls. Always. Forever and always. I mean, I had to re-watch the series before the revival comes out at the end of November, right? Also, this is essential my comfort food of television shows. And when I can’t sleep because of insomnia, when I am having meltdowns, this is my favourite place to escape.

Listening…

“Sorrow” by The National. Because The National is always appropriate. And because I often turn to their albums in my times of great stress and anxiety. It helps me exist in the world a little better.

Nothing. I’m in a serious writing/deadlines/meltdown phase at school and my time for entertaining reading is entirely non-existent.

Watching…

While I don’t have a lot of free time, I do like to watch an episode or two of something while I get ready in the morning. Lately it’s been Supergirl, which I’m pretty much watching solely because Jermey Jordan is in it. Man is very very pretty. Now if only they could find an excuse to have him sing…

Listening…

I’ve been in a weird music-free work mode lately. But I’ve been super into listening to Lady Gaga’s Joanne while I’m cleaning. I’ve seen mixed reactions to this album, but I think it is damn good.

The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan. I went to the NTLive broadcast of this play last week and it has been haunting me ever since. Achingly good.

Watching…

Off Camera with Sam Jones. I’ve just been watching this in bits and pieces while getting ready or eating lunch. Jones isn’t necessarily the most articulate interviewer, but there is something about his approach and the format of these interviews that gets subjects to open up in really interesting ways about their professions. I love that Jones kind of circles around similar questions with a lot of his guests. I am really fascinated by the ways artists and performers approach their crafts and how these differ or don’t differ between fields and individuals, and this si something these interviews really get into.

Listening…

Angela Hewitt’s newest recording of the Goldberg Variations. Recording a version of this is incredibly impressive. Recording a second version? I’m not sure I have a word for that. Hewitt is a phenomenal talent, and this recording is a total joy.

Carl Jung. It’s for the thesis, but I am finding it far more lucid than I recall it being last time I picked his work up in undergrad. This may simply be because a lot of the other things I’ve been reading have managed to give me headaches after only a sentence or two.

Watching…

Season 2 of You’re the Worst. I know I wrote about this one in last week’s post, but season 2 deserves its own shout out. This season has the most compelling and realistic portrayal of clinical depression I think I have ever encountered on television. The writers knocked this one out of the park and Aya Cash turns in a truly powerful performance that knocked the wind out of me more than once.

Listening…

I’m still on a “songs you could have found on a diner jukebox” kick. Latest addition to the rotation is John Lee Hooker. Blues done right.

I Know What I’m Doing and Other Lies I Tell Myself by Jen Kirkman. I’ve been on a personal essay collection kick lately, and I picked this one up because I enjoy Kirkman’s standup. It is less comedic than I expected. That’s not to say that it isn’t darkly funny. It’s funny in the way that I am often funny: through self-effacement and a recognition of both the absurdity and the disastrousness of life. I’ve been most struck, though, by Kirkman’s brutal honesty. It’s a resonating book for me, even though I’m not in the same life space she is, and sometimes those are the most gratifying resonances to find.

Watching…

You’re the Worst. I don’t know what it says about me that I find the deeply fucked up relationships between deeply damaged people in this show almost endearing, but it makes for compelling television. Season two drops on Shomi today, and I am so stoked.

Listening…

The Next to Normal soundtrack. On loop. I don’t think the angst of this show will ever stop resonating with me. Bonus points for these videos of recording sessions. For some reason, I really love watching recording sessions for musicals.